When examining Graham Rahal’s decade in IndyCar, it’s tempting to focus on a particularly glaring gap.

After winning his debut race on the open-wheel circuit as an 18-year-old rookie in St. Petersburg, seven years went by with nary a victory.

But if that seems like a lengthy stretch, the son of hall of famer Bobby Rahal has another viewpoint.

“If I look at my career, I think I’ve finished second, like, 15 times,” the 28-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native said. “Any one of those opportunities could have been my day, but they weren’t.”

That’s racing, as they say. One moment you’re out in front and can practically taste the champagne, the next you’re scratching your head.

“I look back at Texas 2012 when my good friend, the late, great Justin Wilson, won. I dominated the end of that race and I brushed the wall with two laps to go and finished second because of a mental error,” Rahal said. “But then we went back in 2016 and we won it.”

Indeed, those winless years have since been replaced by victory-filled seasons for Rahal, who enters this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto as a legitimate contender. He comes in with four top-five finishes in his past five starts, which puts him sixth in the driver standings.

Rahal also picked up a pair of wins in 2014, and earlier this season he put on a clinic in the Motor City en route to sweeping the Detroit duals, becoming the first driver to sweep a two-race weekend since Scott Dixon at Toronto in 2013.

For those counting, that’s five wins in two years after that so-called drought. Few drivers have more victories in the same span.

The success hasn’t come by waving a magic wand.

“I wouldn’t say a eureka moment necessarily, but I’ve got a great team assembled around me. That makes a hell of a difference,” said Rahal, who drives for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father and former late-night king David Letterman. “To me, the way that we have come together and united as a team has made a big difference.”

So, too, does age, experience and time.

“Just taking every inch and every opportunity each race weekend more serious,” he said of how he has transformed his approach. “I started young and I’ll be the first to say, early in my career, when I got the opportunities to go race, you take it seriously, you want to win, you say you want to win, but when you’re 18, 19 years old, sometimes you don’t really get what it takes to win.

“So, yeah … it takes a little bit to get that gut-check moment and realize that this is life. If I’m going to do this, I need to be successful,” he added. “I just took that to heart and decided between myself and my organization and my team that we all had to work as hard as possible to win, and I really give the guys most of the credit.”

Chalk it up to hard work, dedication and perseverance. Just don’t call Rahal a late bloomer.

“It’s just that I came into this so young, so people think that I’m getting old,” Rahal said. “But, heck, I think I’m still the second- or third-youngest full-time driver. Not bad.”

We counted a few more younger drivers than that, but the point remains, Rahal is just now entering his prime racing years. And it would appear he is ultra-motivated in his quest for greatness.

“As I said to my engineers right before the race in Detroit, I don’t want to leave this sport as just another guy. Not that six wins even is. Not many people have won six IndyCar races, period,” Rahal said. “But let’s put that aside, because I don’t want to retire like that. I don’t want to leave this sport like that. I want to leave it in a better place than when I came into it. I want to leave it as a guy that’s considered one of the greats.

“I think I have a long time to go. I don’t think I’m even halfway through here, so I’m definitely looking forward to what the future has in store.”

CANADA IS EH OK

With his best showing over eight races being a fifth-place finish, Graham Rahal won’t be leaning on memorable past performances as motivation at the Honda Indy Toronto.

But considering his street-course success this season — he swept the Detroit Grand Prix dual race weekend — his famous father’s attachment to Toronto and his family’s affinity for Canada, the Columbus, Ohio, native is always particularly excited to race north of the border.

“Dad was not able to race here due to age. So when you go up to Canada, they were a little bit more lenient. His first race was up there. I want to say he was 17 and here you had to be 18,” Rahal explained of how his dad, Bobby, got his start. “My grandfather took him up there to compete for the first time.”

Bobby Rahal, who has won the Indianapolis 500 as both a racer and owner, also won the first race in Toronto back in 1986.

“Canada is a country I love,” Graham Rahal said. “My family has a summer cottage in (St. Andrews) New Brunswick. It will be there until the end of my time, I can tell you that. To me, it’s heaven on earth.”

Rahal can appreciate one other Canadian element, hometown favourite James Hinchcliffe.

“I started racing with James when I was 11. He’s been a thorn in my damn side my entire career,” Rahal said.